Silence, this is the thing before and after a knock that helps you to pay attention. Silence is what you hear before you fall asleep. Silence is what you hear when your mind is quiet and it is the ability of silence in adding definition to things that is so important. Are you rich in silence or are you poor? I used to be much poorer in it before I started to learn Russian.
Russian is, of course a difficult language. It has a rather complex grammar structure and the sounds it uses for words are mostly produced in a different part of the mouth then the sounds we use for English. But I didn’t start by learning all about those things. I really wanted to imitate the way people learn languages when they are just babies. Instead of the scholastic approach I have taken all my life I wanted the innocence of knowing what words mean just by the way they sound. What I’m trying to explain is that you can’t learn a new language when you are still listening to (and leaning on) the old one.
Also I didn’t know enough of the language to converse freely. So what I found myself doing was simply sitting and listening as people I was with spoke. I think we learn from our childhood educational experience to participate in class discussions so as to make good impressions on our teachers. That also helps learn to better express ourselves in our country’s language. But what I experienced during the years I was learning Russian was the pleasure of listening.
I listened to the sounds people make to form the words and how the words connected all together to tell stories and anecdotes, as well as to express simpler things. Of course there always comes a time when one must use one’s ability to speak because a spoken language is largely a process of appropriate reactions in my experience. But I still remember those hours spent listening with great fondness. Listening is such a peaceful and pleasant activity!
The truth is that one must listen in order to learn and understand. It is a fundamental part of communication that seems to be so often overlooked these days. Simply put, you cannot understand information you do not hear! Listening (quietly) is the only way to actually hear what others are saying.
I recommend you go to this link and listen to Krishnamurti giving this lecture on meditation at San Diego State in 1974: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW96eZsR710
Enjoy and be grateful for it!
